Ukraine on Wednesday invited the worried mothers of Russian troops captured on the battlefield to come and collect their sons, in an apparent attempt to embarrass Moscow.

"A decision has been taken to hand over captured Russian troops to their mothers if they come to collect them in Ukraine, in Kyiv," the defense ministry said in a statement.

A week

The European Union on Wednesday cut seven Russian banks from the SWIFT payment system and banned Kremlin-controlled media outlets RT and Sputnik from broadcasting into the bloc.

The measures, effective immediately, were the latest ratcheting up of the Western-coordinated sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, now in its seventh day.

"At

Malta said Wednesday it would temporarily stop giving citizenship and residency to Russians and Belarusians over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, suspending the so-called "golden passports" scheme for wealthy investors.

Malta's parliamentary secretariat in charge of citizenship said in a statement it had "suspended, until further notice, the

Russian forces said they had captured a port on the Black Sea on Wednesday as Russian and Ukrainian troops battled for another city and Ukraine's leader said Moscow wanted to "erase" his country.

The Russian army said it had taken control of Kherson, as its troops advanced and pounded cities across southern and eastern Ukraine, defying sanctions